Coolant question

[2.2H8TA]

I got a low coolant light today, and I knew I had some. I opened the hood and noticed the sticker which says to use the orange dex-cool coolant. I have regular green coolant. I did not use it. My car is not overheating yet so if I have to I can go and get the orange stuff. My question is do I need to get the orange stuff, and is it availible at parts stores? Or can I just use the stuff I have. This may sound like a dumb question to some, but I've just never had this problem before. My 95' 4cyl just used regular coolant.

[Chad91GTZ]

Just use whatever you've got. I use water.

[2.2H8TA]

Well there is still orange stuff in it, so mixing won't be a problem?

[Chad91GTZ]

Not anymore. Problem was originally some BS about how Dex Cool, the orange, ate headgaskets in earlier cars.

Adding green to orange simply lowers its change interval. Dex cool is supposedly a long life coolant, add green, and it makes it last as long as green would.

[2.2H8TA]

My dad went out and got the dex-cool. I still didn't put it in. Whats the deal with the eatin' headgaskets BS? I'd like to know before I use it, if it's gonna be a problem down the line, and I can get away with using the regular coolant, I'll just take the dex-cool back. Is it the dex-cool itself that was said to eat headgaskets, or was it when the two diffrent kinds were mixed?

[Barry]

I have been using standard prestone green mixes will all makes and models stuff forever now. I have never had a gasket go bad on any of my motors.

[pghturbo88]

There are antifreezes out there, Prestone and Peak come to mind immediately, that say that they mix with any antifreeze of any color. I, like Barry, have also used only standard "green" antifreezes in my fleet, changing it on two year intervals (regardless of the "long life" claim on the front of the bottle) and have had no coolant related problems with any of the older vehicles. (I will not follow this regimen with our new Honda, as I have antifreeze in factory jugs to use when the maintenance minder tells me its time, don't want to mess with the warranty.)

[Chad91GTZ]

There was a lawsuit against Dex-Cool, because it supposedly ate through headgaskets on older 3.1 and 3.4's.

What REALLY happened, was that the pressure cap on the then new type of coolant system (the kind without the fill neck on the radiator itself, like you have) would fail in the open position. This allows oxygen to get into the system, and compromise the coolant, radiator, and gaskets.

There is no other reason to run Dex Cool than for the service interval.

The companies that put "can mix with any color coolant" only do so because everyone sti believes you can't mix the two, because some older cars say not to.

Again, the only reason not to mix them is that it changes the service interval. It will not turn to gel, it will not eat your radiator, it will not steal your children in the night, or kill your dog.

[Cliff8928]

There were a few problems with the Dex-Cool..

The radiator cap issue was for the dye (if i remember right) precipitating out of the coolant and forming a grease-like substance that could clog cooling system passages.

The intake gasket issue (not head gasket) was from the use of the plastic gaskets and Dex-Cool being a plasticizer, meaning that it can degrade or soften certain plastics which those intake gaskets were made from (keep in mind, the intake gaskets were designed before dex-cool was released).

Dex-Cool is a "OAT" coolant. The "Add to any color" is usually "HOAT" and the green is "IAT". The green will generally contribute to the nasty scale in the coolant system much faster than the yellow (any color). The Dex-Cool should theoretically have no chance of the silicate scale at all.

[SuzukiGhostRider]

Yes, you SHOULD NOT, I repeat, SHOULD NOT, mix green and Dex. Yes, it WILL and can cause gelling and clogging problems. The two types are chemically incompatible.

If you want or the other, you should THOROUGHLY flush your system with a flush kit and stick with one or the other.

[Chad91GTZ]

That may have been true when it first came out. That is simply not the case anymore. AFAIK, all OAT coolants are compatible with non oat coolant produced today.

[2.2H8TA]

Ok so I think I'm gonna use the dex-cool. I shouldn't need to fulsh it if I'm sticking with whats in there already right? Or should it be flushed anyway?

[2.2H8TA]

After lookin' in the owners manual, which I don't know why I didn't do in the first place, it states to only use the dex-cool. It says to put in a 50/50 mix of dex-cool and clean water.

[Chad91GTZ]

Of course it does. So did the cap on your radiator.

[SuzukiGhostRider]

The occasional coolant flush (say every 50k) is NEVER a bad idea. But as long as you're sticking with what's called for and (presumably) what's already in the system, no you shouldn't NEED to flush. You may WANT to.

And yes, type of coolant should be on your cap. Just as weight oil is on your dipstick and trans fluid type is on it's dipstick.